"It's not about the oil"

I don't know how this one slipped under the radar; thanks to the folks at EarthRights International and SEEN for bringing it to my attention. On May 22nd of this year, Bush issued an executive order declaring a “national emergency” and saying that the only way to keep the world safe was to grant full immunity from prosecution for criminal charges or financial fraud or any and all other charges to all US oil companies taking over Iraqi oil production. I'm not even kidding (here's a link to the full PDF or the overview page).

Anyway, doesn't that seem kind of weird? I mean, why give oil companies legal immunity from human rights violations and so on, and eliminate all legal recourse? Not only that, but it also grants domestic immunity to any oil company that has any dealing in Iraq. To give a far out — but legal — example under this executive order, an oil company that had also worked in Iraq could kill anyone in California that didn't pay their bills and be immune from all prosecution.

I can think of no justification for making these oil companies totally immune to any laws, but there you have it. Above the law…